


Togetherness

by DDDaisy



Category: Death Note (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Carry On Quarantine, F/M, Normal Life, Quarantine Life, daily life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-25
Updated: 2020-06-25
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:33:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24912409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DDDaisy/pseuds/DDDaisy
Summary: If Mello and Halle had to observe home quarantine like us...
Relationships: Halle Lidner | Halle Bullock/Mello | Mihael Keehl
Comments: 5
Kudos: 12





	Togetherness

**Author's Note:**

> Guess how many people around the world have experienced home quarantine this year. I can't help but imagine what life would be like for Halle and Mello if they had to observe home quarantine as well. I think I’m so addicted to this pairing.

Halle, dressed in creamed-colored Pajamas, sat on the right side of the couch, idly leafing through the women's fashion magazine she had always wanted to read but had no time for. Mello rested his head on her lap, lying on his side on the couch, with his legs curled up and his eyes glued to the television.

"Home quarantine is expected to lead a significant increase in divorce rates. Divorce lawyers claimed they have received a flood of phone calls seeking advice on how to divorce during the quarantine. Too much togetherness is going to drive a wedge or exacerbate whatever tension is already there for couples who are struggling or don’t communicate well.” Mello pressed button the remote control to change the channel. There was a host having video conversation with a man in a doctor’s coat on TV. "Dr. White, how long until coronavirus vaccine will be ready?” "Based on the current progress of the study, I think..." Mello raised his left hand and pressed the button again. "Economists predict that the global economy will inevitably decline this year..." Mello switched over to another channel. "Why did you abandon me?” “I didn’t want to leave you..."

Halle stroked Mello's hair gently, and a subtle touch came to her central nervous system as her palm wiped the scar on his neck. She moved her left leg slightly to relieve the numbness of the oppression.

"Mello, is there any planned for today?" Halle said as she was still poring over the new skincare products on the magazine.

Mello was still flicking through the channels as if he hadn’t heard Halle.

“Don’t tell me you’ll spend another day in front of TV.” Halle put the magazine aside and looked slightly down at Mello who was staring at the television.

Mello silently put down the remote control, turning around and looking up to Halle who was also looking at him.

"Even if we have to stay at home, it’s not a reason for lounging around doing nothing. Can’t you find a better way to kill time?" Halle asked.

"A better way to kill time?” Mello thought for two seconds and quickly support himself in a sitting position. He narrowed his eyes to Halle, with the corner of his mouth slightly turned upward, and reached out to the top button of Halle's pajama. Halle, quick with her hands and sharp-sighted, grabbed Mello's right hand in the moment as Mello was about to touch the button.

"Hey, I can’t today.” Halle motioned with her eyes for Mello to look at the calendar on the wall.

Mello frowned and pulled away from Halle's grasp, looking back at the calendar where today's date was circled in red pen. He tilted his head, thinking about the red circle that obviously wasn't there yesterday. ”Pity!” He muttered as he recalled what that red circle stood for.

"Besides, we've just only had breakfast.” Halle sighed. “ Can‘t you make some plans for your

self? It is a rare chance for both us to have much time at home, isn’ it? I just think you shouldn’t have let time slip by and could do something that matter.

“That’s mother’s talking.” Mello leaned back against the couch, hugging his knees to step on the couch with his bare feet. “I was to value time. But you can’t today, can you? Not for the next few days, apparently.” He said, grinning at Halle.

“I’m not talking about that.” Halle rolled her eyes. "Are you really the Mello I know? "

"The Halle I know wouldn’t be no fun like that.” Mello snorted.

“I’m serious.” Halle said, frowning.

“I’m serious, too. We have a deal that we don’t meddle in each other’s affairs.”

“So it’s illegal to ask about your plan now?” Halle asked, impatiently.

“My plans are screwed up by the damn virus.” Mello grumbled.

“The same. I have to work from home for weeks." Halle chuckled as if something had occurred to her.

Mello looked at her quizzically.

"Near sent me a lot of information. I’m not able to sort it all out on my own. Help me." Halle said. At the sound of Near’s name, Mello pursed his lips and his eyes went dark instantly: “I'm not his slave as you are. Why would I work for him?"

Halle, smiling at how angry Mello looked when he was poked on the sore spot, took the chocolate out of the cabinet next to the couch and handed it to Mello. Mello expertly tore off the sliver foil and bit off a piece of chocolate.

“Actually I cherish these days on which I can spend more time enjoying my own life. I’m the field agent. My mind was hardly on my home. I shall do something for home now. I make a to-do list during the quarantine."

"Like...?"Mello turned to Halle.

"Learning to cook."

"Haha, that's why you've been doing all kinds of chemistry experiments in the kitchen every day lately.”Mello giggled as taking the last bite of chocolate.

"Please don't discourage me." Halle glared at him.

"Sorry.” Mello said as throwing his hands open, ”There is much room for improvement in your cook."

“Someone who don’t cook isn’t qualified to judge me.” Halle snapped.

"Please, you either order a takeaway or eat out." Mello rolled the sliver foil into a clump and threw it in the direction of the trash can. Unfortunately, the clump went off course, then landed on by the trash can.

"A house cleaning is necessary.” Halle took a very contemptuous look at Mello. "Chocolate chips you leave is everywhere, but you never sweep the trash you leave behind. Go pick it up.”

"If I cleaned up all rooms, wouldn't you have spent hundreds of dollars on a sweeper robot for nothing?" Mello ambled down and tried to rest his head on Halle's thighs again.

Halle straightened up, pushing Mello away with her hands. “I plan to go through closets and sort out all clothes. I’d like to donate old clothes to charity.”

“Including your underwear? ” Mello teased.

Halle continued announcing her plan as if she didn’t hear his silly joke: “Then I will tidy up rooms and lay out the flat in a different style. I hate messy rooms. ”

“Well, that’s a major undertaking!" Mello turned his attention to the TV program again, resting both feet on the coffee table in front of them.

“Speak for yourself.”

Mello asked her with his eyes as turning around.

Halle said, squinting: “The stuff you took home was lying around except your chocolate. Every time I offered to help you sort out, I was required to abide by the deal. But I haven’t seen you placing your stuff. Aren’t you obligated to tidy up rooms? ”

"……" Mello choked.

Before Mello could speak, Halle snapped:” It’s not just that. You have a lot of free time now. It’s no reason that you can't find a proper time to laundry room. How dare you ask me to take your laundry again with excuse that you’re afraid of bumping into neighbors ? Why do you forget the deal when talking about this?"

“I don’t…” Mello muttered, with his mouth twitching.

“Mello.” Halle interrupted, with Her tone suddenly mellowed. ”I won’t meddle in your life. Since you are one of residents living at this home, please don't feel like an outsider that everything here has nothing to do with you. It’s ridiculous that you’re sitting around doing nothing. Or would you rather be a couch potato?” She didn’t look at Mello anymore.

Mello tried to defend himself, but he bit back the words.

Neither of them spoke anymore. There was only the sound of TV show in the room. After a while, Halle stood up and headed for the bedroom.

Mello didn't follow her. He shut up the television, and leaned against the sofa, staring at the ceiling.

A moment later, there was a slight movement in the bedroom. Mello pretended to pass by the bedroom, seeing Halle sitting at her dresser and brushing her eyelashes in the mirror.

"Are you going out?" Mello asked, pretending not to care.

"No.” Halle picked one lipstick of her favorite color from a drawer full of lipsticks in all shade. "Near is going to video-conference with all SPK members at 9:30. I put on light make-up."

Mello shrugged and said: "It’s definitely Near who doesn’t forget to exploit your labor at weekends."

Halle looked back at Mello wearing a black coat, sunglasses and a mask. She asked him curiously: "Are you going out? I just bought boxes of chocolate on Friday."

"Nope," Mello answered as holding up a basket full of dirty clothes, "Take them to the laundry room."

Mello came back with washed and dried clothes. As soon as he opened the door, he heard the voices of several men talking. He could tell that one of them was from Near, even though the voices from the speaker were distorted with noise. Halle sat at the table, video-conferencing with SPK members on her laptop. When hearing the door open, she glanced at Mello in the direction of the gate, then quickly turned her attention back to the computer screen.

"There is convincing evidence that Orlando's case could be judged as a suicide. Gevanni, you are in charge of liaising the local police to persuade the family of the deceased to drop the charges as soon as possible. Near spoke as he always did, with a commanding tone.

Mello listened to their conversations with his ears up in the bedroom, as he folded the clean clothes neatly into the wardrobe.

"Let’s move on to the next case. Lidner is to liaise between SPK and the local police. Lidner, please brief the case."

"Well, this is a series of related cases, to be precise.” Halle paused and looked to the laptop on the right. She had two PCs in front of her, one for having video conversation with colleagues, the other for looking up materials and taking meeting notes.

"Recently, Miami police received a tip that someone was hiding drugs in a beach house, and the police immediately sent a search party..."

Mello walked through the living room as if ignoring the video conference of SPK, and went straight into the kitchen. He took two bars of chocolate out of the cupboard. He broke them into small pieces and placed them into a glass bowl, then added a measured amount of butter and cream to the glass bowl. He heated a glass bowl filled with raw materials in the microwave oven.

"......The police have tracked the drugs to drug dealers from Mexico, but drug dealers couldn’t sent drugs directly to Miami.” Halle analyzed.

"It seems that the mafia in the South is back in action?" I thought they broke up after their boss was arrested.” Commander Rester asked.

"I don't understand why we're talking about this. Capturing a drug dealer is supposed to be DEA's job, isn’t it?” Gevanni was puzzled and asked on the opposite side of the screen.

Mello was weighing the weight of baking powder and cocoa powder, but his attention was drawn to their conversation. He, sensitive to the word “drugs”, had helped Rod play deal with Latin American drug dealers several times in his mafia days.

Rester added:"The FBI's manhunt for the mafia last year was directed by Near..."

"The mafia is nothing to fear." Near said calmly. "The mafia I've seen are a bunch of idiots. My point is ..."

**Boom!**

There was a noise coming from the kitchen.

"Have any of you heard that?" Rester asked nervously.

"Lidner, was that sound coming from your side? What’s going on over there? Gevanni said.

They gave Halle a concerned look. Halle answered with a guilty conscience: "May...maybe...Ye...yes."

"Is there anyone else in your flat?"

"No... No, I’m alone. Just a cat..." Halle stammered, seemingly taking a serious look at the kitchen.

"Cat?" You have a cat? I never heard of it.” Gevanni asked curiously.

"A stray cat, a stray cat I adopted.” Halle chuckled awkwardly as she titled her head sideways, pretending to be watching another laptop's screen and being afraid to look directly into others’ eyes , especially Near's eyes. She was afraid that Near would see something wrong.

"Lidner, you're so kind.” Lester sighed.

"It's actually he came here uninvited.” Halle thought that at least this sentence was true.

Mello who was irritated by Near's words, distressingly looked at the sieve and flour he had accidentally knocked over in the kitchen. He knew damn Near would speak ill of him behind his back. _Did Near dare to put Mafia down like that when SPK was fucked up by him?_ He took two deep breaths, determined to calm down and focus on the work at hands.

“Lidner, go ahead and report on the progress of relevant case.” It could be seen that Near was curling his hair with his hands from the screen.

Halle, inwardly thanking Near for changing the subject, pressed the pagedown button on the right computer and started reporting on the next case: "Near believes it's not pure that the long-dormant mafia have started their activity at such a special time as recently." So Let me arrange an investigation into a burglary in Spain last month. Last month, a famous Van Gogh painting was lost at a museum in Madrid, Spain, and the thieves were so cunning that all the museum's surveillance cameras failed to capture them."

"Does this have anything to do with the drug case?" Gevanni couldn't help but asking.

"This well-known painting is valued at over 70 million euros and cannot be easily sold on the market.” Near analyzed.

"Someone is trying to launder money?" Rester asked.

“DEA intel told us Munoz drug cartel boss likes famous paintings, especially Van Gogh’s works..." Beep-beep——,Halle's cell phone rang twice. Halle felt very embarrassed when her speech was interrupted by the bell.

"Lidner, keep your phone on silent when you have meetings. Near said unhappily.

"Near, I'm so sorry." Halle said, reaching for her phone to see who was texting her at wrong time.

_Munoz loves Monet's paintings best, and his son was a fan of Van Gogh. _

_A text message from Mello?_ Halle glanced at the kitchen and rolled her eyes at Mello mentally.

"Informants of DEA in South America reported that Munoz Group had reactiviated several of their old drug routes to the United States..." Halle noticed that her phone lighted up again.

_If u talked to me about this case, I could give u a better suggestion than Near did._

Halle shut her phone wordlessly, and Mello’s smug expression came to her mind. Knowing that she was working, Mello embarrassed her repeatedly and was not afraid that Near was aware of something.

Mello had just put a mold filled with cake liquid and put it into the oven to baked. He was cooking corn soup when texting Halle on his cell phone. He took vegetables and steaks out of the fridge, as he checked the time displayed on his phone and listened carefully to the video conference in the living room.

"Gevanni, except for the cases you were responsible for last week, you also need to contact with the Spanish police and help them detect all routes in which the paintings could be shipped out of Spain. Near commanded.

"Okay. "

"Rester, I know it's an extraordinary period now, but I need you come to headquarters tomorrow. Some of the files are only viewable by using the computer at headquarters, and I ‘d like to talk to you about some things in person. Please take precautions on the way here."

"Okay.” Rester replied.

"We need to keep abreast of the actions of mafia and drug dealers. Lidner, if I remember correctly, you worked at the South American station of CIA, didn’t you?” Near asked.

"Yes." Halle said. “I had worked there for two years. "That experience led to Halle's spanish language level soaring.

"Are you still in touch with your informants at the drug cartels?" "

"I may try to contact with them.” Halle said uncertainly.

"All right. The job is in your hands now. If you can't reach your informants in the cartel, you have another option."

“Another option?" Halle felt his heart beat faster as she looked with open eyes at Near on the screen.

"You go to Mello for help. He had been in the Mafia for so long that he knows the drug lords in South America better than any of us. He should have a lot of eyes over there."

"Mello...but he ..." Replied Halle, hesitatingly.

"Don't say I took the case. You can tell him your colleagues at the CIA is asking for help. I think you may find another good reason. You’re always proficient in convincing him. How could he miss such an opportunity to show off his skills?" Near sounded very confident.

"You've been in touch with him, haven't you?" Near continued to ask.

"I..." Before Halle finished, she found Mello appeared suddenly in front of her. His blonde hair tickled her face.

"Damn right, Near.” Mello said, looking at the screen.

"Mello!” "Mello!” Rester and Gevanni shouted at the same time with astonishment on their faces.

Near smiled: "Mello, your..."

"I know you like to psychologically control people." Mello interrupted Near. "What a pity that the same trick won’t work for me the second time. " Then Mello closed Halle's laptop.

Mello sighed and stood straight, looking down to Halle.

"Mello, what are you doing...”

“Video conference is over.”

Halle was surprised to see Mello dressed in her purple apron that made her desire to get angry quenched instantly.

"Remind agent Lidner to arrange her personal time properly. Mello said, turning toward kitchen probably not wanting Halle to see his face, "Who did claim that she’s gonna enjoy her life just now?"

Halle glanced at the wall clock as she realized it’s more than 12 o'clock.

"It smells great. I can’t believe there's a chocolate cake. " Surprised and delighted, she saw the neatly arranged food on the table.

"You made it? I didn’t know your cooking enough .” Halle looked at Mello with a smile on her face. The blush suspiciously appeared on Mello’s face. He took off his apron, muttering, "It's just that I want to eat it."


End file.
